


The last little bit before

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life, Part 3 [26]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-28 00:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14437263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: Sometimes happiness can only last so long ...





	The last little bit before

Shopping with Mulder was an experience like no other on a calm, quiet day but release him someplace where he would be surrounded by tiny clothes and tiny furniture and stuffed animals and the means and opportunity to spend money on his future alien-chasing progeny and he was quite the sight to see.

Scully tried to stop him at first but then she simply stood back, following along with the widest grin she’d ever worn while pushing a shopping cart and feeling bigger than a house. Mulder made friends with several workers, holding her hand when possible and when not, keeping his hand on her back, her arm, the side of the cart with his pinkie against hers.

Now, if you ask Mulder, she was way worse than him in the store, with her ‘awww-ing’ and her ‘look at this-ing’ and her bright eyes and ‘wanna touch everything’ fingers, smoothing collars, gliding over Winnie-the-Pooh fur, trailing down the sides of cribs and playpens and car seats with the calloused precision of one who lived her life doing hard things and longed for the soft.

They had to forgo most purchases but, under Mulder’s insistence and twinkling eyes, they opted to register for a few things for the baby shower her mother and sisters-in-law had been both asking her about and planning behind her back. It didn’t take much convincing and soon, the list was filling and the day was disappearing in a whirl of all things baby, “Mulder! It’s a little early for a tricycle and where do you think we’re going to store it for the next four years?”

“You just be quiet.”

She moved along, smiling, “whatever you say, crazy person.”

“Indeed.” With a kiss to her cheek, they continued down their current aisle, reaching the end and discovering that they’d run out of store, “where’s the rest of it?”

“That’s it, Mulder. Sixteen aisles is all you get and before you ask,” finger poising against his lips even as they began opening in his inevitable question, “and no, we are not going through again to see what you missed. You didn’t miss anything. Believe me.”

Semi-pout scrunching his face, “you were more fun in aisle 6.”

“Well, aisle six is always the best in every store.”

He debated and agreed, “that’s the Cheetoh and candy aisle at the grocery store.”

“See!”

“Good call. All right, you ready to get out of here? Go argue at the hardware store about paint colors and stenciling?”

Eyes drifting sideways to glance at him, eyebrows thinking of raising to that ‘did you just mention stenciling’ level, “have you been watching ‘This Old House’ or something?”

“Martha Stewart.”

“I really can’t leave you alone, can I?”

Beginning to pull things out of their cart to set them by the register, “I wouldn’t.”

&&&&&&

Paint color decisions came easier that either expected, yellow settled on with green and white accents, “that’ll fit a boy or a girl or whatever we might have.”

“Are you expecting it to be something other than a boy or a girl?”

“I plan for all contingencies.” Tossing rollers and brushes and tape and various other painting sundries into the cart in front of him, “although you get to pick out the actual colors ‘cause with my luck and my eyes, our kid would be surrounded by pea green and mustard yellow.”

Shuddering slightly at the thought of that little nightmare, she complied, picking out a soft yellow and a subtle green, not pastel but not primary bright either. Mulder approved, both soon back in the car, feeling the weight of purchases and enjoying it immensely.

Eventually home, steaks eaten, potatoes devoured, cupcakes inhaled, they carried everything to the future nursery, Mulder doing most of the lifting, Scully doing her best not to drop accessories. Once in the room, they both stopped, staring at the wall, “those will have to come down for the time being.”

“But we’ll be putting them back up, yes?”

Staring at the progression of their child, ultrasound pictures from the first hospital visit, through every weekly photo the Gunmen had printed for her from her home scans, framed in cheap black plastic, lined up straight, “oh, yeah. I’d also like to label them. Maybe paint the date on the wall above them or something.”

“Oh, my God, you need to turn off Martha and go outside once in awhile.”

Shrugging, he bumped her shoulder, “ready to clean this place out?”

“Let’s get it on.”

&&&&&&&

It was after midnight before Mulder moved the last bookcase to the living room, trying his best to be quiet as he stubbed his toe and jammed his finger simultaneously, wincing in unearthly agony, swearing silently to the sky and the devil and everyone in between until he could breathe normally, his vision clear, his appendages down to low throb. Scully had been forced to give up several hours ago but he carried on, determined to empty the room and clean it before tomorrow’s painting session and now, in a yawning stupor, he turned off lights and climbed in beside her, jostling but not waking, impressive for him and something she’d reward him for with a kiss tomorrow over bowls of Cheerios and buttered toast.

&&&&&&

“Mulder?”

Voice muffled by closet, he backed out, on hands and knees, pausing his trim painting to see why she bellowed, “what?!”

“Why are you yelling at me?”

“I don’t know. This closet’s making everything echo and a lot louder than I think. My breathing sounds like Darth Vader in here.”

Walking over to the window for some fresh air, the smell not bad but still making her a little dizzy without frequent breathers, “and not one joke about lightsabers. The fumes must be getting to you.”

“Probably.” Looking up at her from his now sitting position on the carpet, “what did you need?”

“I just wanted to know if you had any more tape.”

“Nope. Did we run out?”

“Yeah. I haven’t finished the other wall yet.”

Deciding he needed fresh air as well, he popped up, “I’ll run down the street to the drug store and get some.”

“I can go.”

“Nope. Already up and out the door. Back in 10.”

&&&&&&&&&&

Two minutes later, her phone rang and seeing Mulder’s name showing on the ID screen, she shook her head with a grin, thinking he couldn’t need the emergency bail money this quickly while answering, “two rolls should do it, Mulder, and a Payday bar, please.”

The voice invading her ear made her toes freeze, her chest constrict, her muscles contract, fingers gripping as she processed Krycek’s words, hissed across the connection, “didn’t want you to forget about us and just to let you know, this time, he’s not just standing on the balcony.”


End file.
